Richard Li Tzar Kai is a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist. He is the younger son of businessman Li Ka-Shing and brother of Victor Li.
Li was 15th in the Forbes List of Hong Kong’s 50 Richest people for 2016. The same publication named Li as 317th in the list of the world’s billionaires, with an estimated fortune of $4.7 billion.
Education and early life
Li attended St. Paul’s Co-educational College in Hong Kong and left at age thirteen to be educated at Menlo School in Atherton, California. To earn money, he took shifts at McDonalds and also worked as a caddy at the local golf course. He attended Stanford University, studying computer engineering, but did not receive a degree; he states that he withdrew from the school for personal reasons after three years.
Li acquired Canadian citizenship in the 1980s. His Canadian citizenship has proven valuable to him in his financial dealings, allowing him to make bids for PCCW to purchase stakes in companies such as Air Canada and Bell Canada Enterprises without running afoul of restrictions on foreign ownership.
Business activity
Li is chairman of PCCW, HKT Trust and HKT Limited, and chairman of PCCW’s and HKT’s executive committee. He is also chairman and chief executive of the Pacific Century Group, chairman of Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited (PCPD), chairman of PCPD’s executive committee and chairman of Singapore-based Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited.
In September 2009, Li bought the asset management operations of AIG, AIG Investments, for around $500 million. Renamed PineBridge Investments, the business currently has approximately $83 billion of assets under management.
In June 2011, Hong Kong’s stock exchange approved the carve-out of the telecommunications and mobile assets of PCCW, which also has broadband television, IT solutions and property businesses. In September 2011 the final hurdles were cleared by Hong Kong’s stock exchange for PCCW to list its telecommunications assets as HKT Trust, the city’s first publicly traded share stapled units. On 12 October 2011 PCCW shareholders approved the plan. Li’s involvement in the 2011 initial public offering of HKT Trust saw the company raise around $1.2 billion. In December 2013, HKT agreed to acquire CSL New World Mobility, a subsidiary of Australian network operator Telstra, for HK$18.8 billion. CSL currently runs the premium 1010 and mainstream CSL brands in Hong Kong. The transaction was completed in May 2014.
In February 2013, Li’s Pacific Century Group announced the acquisition of the Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand insurance business of ING Groep N.V., and later rebranded the business to FWD Group. Since then, FWD has expanded into Indonesia and the Philippines. Most recently, the company announced its entry into the Singapore and Vietnam markets.
In April 2015 former Canadian foreign affairs minister John Baird was appointed as non-executive director to FWD and PineBridge.
Li was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia in November 2011.
Richard Li Net Worth: Richard Li is a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist who has a net worth of $2 billion. The younger son of the rags-to-riches tycoon Li Ka-shing, Richard Li is one of the top players in Hong Kong’s telecommunications today. Actually, he got back to being the kingpin of the city’s industry after his father’s PCCW-controlled HKT agreed to acquire CSL New World Mobility for HK$18.8 billion in December 2013. The latter, which is a subsidiary of Australian network operator Telstra, allowed HKT to acquire a 31% share of Hong Kong’s mobile communications market once the transaction was completed earlier this year. Additionally, the Li family is making an entry into the broadcast and insurance industries. As of October 2013, the government gave a much-coveted license to their PCCW to compete in Hong Kong’s free-to-air television market. Under Richard Li’s direction, PCCW has participated in a number of philanthropic causes, including the 2002–03 SARS outbreak. Richard dated actress and singer Isabella Leong from 2008 to 2011. They have twin sons together who were born in San Francisco in 2010.
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